Time of Change
by Solacius
Summary: One Shot. Lily realizes that, though she tries to hide it, she likes James.


**Foreword:**

I_ own nothing. I created Professor Lurek, Aunt Luca, and Auntie Mora, but everyone and everything else was created by J.K. Rowling._

_James Potter and Lily Evans are fascinating characters, and should be given the utmost respect. I've decided to write stories about their schooldays, marriage, and death, in an attempt to provide insights into their characters._

_The following story is a small one, and it is my rendition of how Lily confessed her affection for James. It takes place in their seventh year. It's just a cute little story. It's rather shallow, and I'll most likely write another version that goes deeper. However, I would appreciate it if you would read it and comment on it. Thanks!_

* * *

Lily stared at her hands, her long red hair falling in front of her bright green eyes, images dancing in her mind. A teenage boy… a lanky boy, with thick blonde hair that always fell in his shy blue eyes. Skye Prewett was his name. He was brilliant, the best in his year. He always gave Lily a shy smile when he saw her, which she was overjoyed to return…

Another face appeared, raucous and obnoxious. James Potter. Lily loved telling him off, perhaps even more than she loved Skye's smiles. He was always doing wrong, and it was no secret that he fancied Lily…

Her mind cleared enough to think, 'Well, he'd better find someone else to fancy, because I do not like James Potter in the least.'

Break's over, time to go. Hustle-bustle, bustle-hustle, go to class. 'Where are we really going?' She gave Skye a friendly smile as she passed him on the way to Defense Against the Dark Arts.

James was behind her, and wolf-whistled when the wind passing through a nearby window blew her robes aside, revealing bare calves. She snatched them back down and rushed ahead, blushing furiously.

"Time for class, in your seat, take out your books and wand. Potter, don't even think about doing that. Good morning, Miss Evans." Nodding politely at Professor Lurek, she took her seat between Skye and James.

James waited until they exchanged their smiles ('Oh please, is it possible to be a bigger prat?'), and imitated the way Skye had bawled when he had a hangnail.

He thought it was hilarious, but obviously Lily did not ("Oh please, that was in our second year, and it was infected").

"Quiet, quiet, while I call roll," Professor Lurek muttered lazily. 'I've been doing this for too long,' he thought, searching through his scroll for Year 7: Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.

"Okay." He attached a pair of pince-nez to his nose.

"Abernathy, Kendra." ("Present!")

"Astillo, Larry." ("I'm here.")

"Black, Sirius." (Silence prevails)

"Black, Sirius," he repeated. He looked sternly at Remus Lupin.

"Mr. Lupin, is Sirius Black cutting class again?"

Lily saw James take something that looked like a galleon with a large M from his pocket, prod it with his wand, and slip it out of sight again. Across the room, Remus looked earnest, almost regretful.

"No, sir."

The professor considered it for a moment, then made a mark on the parchment and continued to call names.

"Filthy skivers," Lily muttered to James.

"So what, Evans, are you going to tell on us?" He gave her a jaunty, winning smile, and she sighed.

"(Present, professor) No, I suppose I won't this time, but consider this a warning. I am a prefect, as you are well aware-"

"You know, Evans, you're really cute when you go on long-winded spiels."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"What? You know it's true," he leaned and whispered in her ear. "I'm Head Boy, I'm a shoo-in for Quidditch Captain, and I'm sure you know how good you'd look on the arm of the brilliant guy who led Gryffindor to victory."

"No, Potter, I've told you a thousand times, but I guess I have to tell you again. I'm not interested in you. You're vile, loud, and obnoxious, and you're just concerned about how good you'd look with me, the Head Girl, on your arm."

Lily thought she saw a look of hurt in his eyes, but he quickly hid it.

"Oh well, that's your loss. (You've just commented on my talking, and now you're asking if I'm here. Would I be able to talk in your classroom if I weren't in the classroom?)"

"You have detention with me tomorrow night, Potter."

Detention tomorrow night… Lily was very displeased to hear that, though she couldn't quite understand why.

'He is nothing to you, Evans. Nothing!'

"And now, if Mr. Potter will kindly stop harassing Miss Evans, we will begin the lesson. Today, I will teach you the Infernopius Charm. It's particularly useful against malevolent witches and wizards – well, actually, that's really all you can use it against. Now, for a demonstration. Hmm… ah, yes. James Potter, you haven't done a demonstration lately, so please come to the front of the classroom."

"What does it do?" James was a bit nervous at the thought of having to perform an unknown spell, but he was determined to impress Lily by showing her how well he could perform this, whatever it was.

"Everyone will find out, in due time."

James walked reluctantly to the front of the room, and saw the word "Infernopants" appear on the chalkboard.

"This is a very easy spell, but very useful, and it's not widely known. Just say the incantation on the board, and focus on the person you're casting it on. Mind you, you can only use it on people."

James closed his eyes, screwed up his face, and wondered who he would possibly want to cast it on. Lily was definitely out of the question… he could cast it on Sirius, that'd probably be a good laugh… no, wait, he knew the perfect person…

"INFERNOPANTS!"

Everyone looked wildly around to see who he had cast the spell on and what damage had been done. Skye Prewett could be heard telling Lily, "Well, I guess he just didn't do it right. Such a shame… if I had been called on, I could definitely have done it correctly."

The room was filling with the terrible smell of burning fabric.

"Sk – Skye! Your pants are on fire!"

Skye fell out of his chair and ran to the front of the classroom, doing an awkward sort of dance before James lazily said, "Aguamenti."

The class laughed, including Lily (James's stomach did several backflips).

Skye slunk back into his seat, his pants wet and smoldering and his face redder than Lily's hair.

"A rare stroke of brilliance I would not normally expect of you, Mr. Potter. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, I want you to get into pairs and practice."

Lily paired with Skye (who now smelled rather unpleasant), and James went with Sirius.

Lily's brain was torn. How dare James do that to Skye? That was very rude and uncalled-for. On the other hand, it was rather good, and James was rather cute…

Lily made sure James was watching, and pulled Skye into a tight kiss. As she did it, her insides churned, and it was almost as though her heart was screaming at her, "What are you doing? Stop!"

James turned rather red and looked away, and there was a definite look of hurt in his eyes.

They broke away, and Lily gave Skye an unsure look. Skye pulled her into another kiss, and even though she had secretly fancied him for a while, she wanted to vomit.

'What's wrong with me? Why am I doing this? James is the one I should be doing this with!'

'No, James is immature and stupid. Skye is mature and very smart. He's definitely the one you should be doing this with.'

"Miss Evans and Mr. Prewett, that's very sweet and cute and all the rest of that nonsense, but this is time for class."

They broke away again, and Lily, hoping to avoid another kiss, set fire to Skye's pants.

Lily worked very hard to avoid James's eye.

James, on the other side of the room, had been stewing in his fury ever since Lily had "locked lips with that slimeball."

'What does she see in him? He's ugly, and he's not as smart as he says. I saw his OWLs. She's just doing this to make me mad. Well, I'll show her.'

"James, what are you thinking about?" Sirius knew about his best friend's deep fascination with Lily, and he had a feeling that what James was about to do couldn't be good. "Just leave her alone; if she doesn't like you, you can't change that."

"Shut up, Padfoot."

James crept behind Lily, pulled out his wand, and…

"INFERNOPANTS!"

Lily's skirt caught fire, and she shrieked, rushing to put it out.

She turned around on the spot, green eyes narrowed and meeting James's overbright hazel ones.

"How dare you? TARANTELLAGRA!"

James's legs began to tango uncontrollably until he quickly smacked them with his wand.

"LEVICORPUS!"

Lily was thrust into the air, hanging from her ankle. All manner of things fell out of her pockets, including (Lily was ashamed to even think of it) a bit of parchment with very incriminating initials…

James realized he'd gone a bit too far, and rushed to help her ("LIBERACORPUS!").

"Thank you, thank you, very sorry – SECTUMSEMPRA!"

Blood poured from gashes that appeared on James's face and soaked through his robes. Weakened from the loss of blood, he fell.

Lily realized she'd really gone too far, and waved her wand quickly to stop the flow of blood. Whimpering, she looked for Professor Lurek, who was sleeping with his head drooping onto his desk. She grabbed James's hand (he insisted that she let go), and pulled him to the hospital wing ("Stop, Evans, I'm perfectly capable of going by myself").

"Why did you do this?"

Madam Lawrence, the nurse, rubbed Essence of Dittany on James's bare chest.

"Do you realize that this young man is going to be scarred for life?"

Lily had her head in her hands, and she wasn't even trying to hide the tears cascading down her face. James was going to be disfigured, all because of her…

"Madam Lawrence, in all fairness, I – I started it."

"You what?"

She stared down her nose at James.

"What do you mean?"

"I attacked Lily first."

"What's going on here?"

"I – I'd rather not say. Could we please just go? We're going to be late."

Sighing exasperatedly, she said, "I guess, but I'm going to have to report this to the Headmaster, you know."

"Yes, ma'am."

They returned to the classroom in silence, gathered their books, and went through their days without speaking to each other.

Lily spent weeks in silent agony. James was scarred, and it was all because of her. Why had she used that curse? At the same time, she was furious at James. Just because he was jealous that she had kissed Skye (she still wanted to vomit at the thought of that), he had set her skirt on fire. That's not exactly a proper way to tell someone that you like them.

James was furious at Lily, not himself. Why did she have to go and kiss that buffoon? He was better looking, he was smarter, he was better at Quidditch, and he was Head Boy. He was Head Boy, she was Head Girl. They were a set. They belonged together.

James would have liked to have spent his time playing Quidditch and messing around with the Marauders, but for the first time in his life, he was truly scared. His family had a lot of power, influence, and money, and some nutcase called Lord Voldemort was trying to convince his parents to "sponsor his greatness," as he called it.

Meanwhile, things at Hogwarts were getting very bad. He couldn't even speak to Lily anymore, and Snivellus was vindictively harassing him and Sirius. He couldn't take it anymore, and hexed him, and was immediately told off by Lily, reported to Professor Dumbledore, and given detention. Things were worse than they'd ever been. He didn't think it could get any worse, and he was wrong…

Working on a particularly nasty Potions essay one night in the common room, as the candles on his table dropped lower and lower, he was shocked to see the head of his Aunt Luca in the fireplace. His fears growing, dreading what she was about to say, he kneeled next to the fire.

Luca's head sighed, and said, "James, I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, but – your mother and father… moved on. They've passed away."

"WHAT?"

"Jamie, I'm really sorry. It was… it was Voldemort. Your parents refused to support him, and he just lost it. They went quickly and peacefully, painlessly…"

A hand appeared in the fire, and mopped up the tears under Luca's eyes.

"The funeral will be November 29. We'll send for you when it's time to go. Look, it'll be okay, it will," she tried to reassure James as he began sobbing in spite of himself. "James, please, be strong. I'll be here for you, and so will Auntie Mora. I have to go, but please, stay strong."

Her head disappeared with a pop, leaving him alone to sob in the morbid silence of the common room. At least, he thought he was alone…

Lily slowly crept down the stairs, bracing herself to tell off whoever was lurking in the common room when they should be in bed. She was startled to hear sniffling sounds, and drew her wand warily. She stopped immediately when she saw the familiar untidy black hair, and had to keep herself from running to the fire when she saw James crying. How she wished she could run to him, and comfort him, but she couldn't. She sat on the stairs, and watched him.

How could his parents be dead? They had sworn they would always be there for him, and now they had failed him. He was angry at his parents, livid at Voldemort, and furious with himself. The last time he had seen them, he had whined, and asked them to buy him a brand new broomstick. A sudden thought hit him. What if Lily had died? The last thing he'd ever said to her was the countercurse to a hex he had put on her. What if he would never have a chance to say sorry, and maybe be something more to her than a pest?

"From now on, I swear that I will be serious. No more playing around, no more acting like a jerk. I promise my parents, I promise myself, I promise the Marauders, and I promise Lily Evans."

Lily clapped a hand to her mouth, tears running down her face.

The next day, in Professor Slughorn's class, Lily was both surprised and impressed to see James working diligently at his Unlucky Ooze, the opposite of Felix Felicis. He didn't flick pufferfish eyes at anyone, or try to sneak over and put dead roaches down Lily's shirt; he just sat there, read the directions, and added the proper ingredients without saying a word.

Lily was worried. She'd never seen James like this. What was wrong? She was so concerned that she mashed her beetle ears too hard, and caused her Unlucky Ooze to be far too thick.

Professor Slughorn looked at the solid mass in her cauldron and clucked, saying, "Really, Lily, what's wrong? I've never seen such an abysmal potion from you. On the other hand," he said, pausing to look into James's cauldron, "This is by far the best potion in the class! An unusual change, eh?" Instead of beaming at Lily, James simply laid his head on his desk. Lily found her Herbology spade and began to scrape the mess out of her cauldron.

Over the next few months, James's new morose behavior didn't improve. Lily occasionally caught him stealing glum glances at her, and almost wished he'd go back to his old cheery (and annoying) manner.

One sunny Thursday morning, Lily gathered her books and walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts. James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter were behind her, but instead of catcalling and whistling, James was being consoled by the others.

"Come off it, mate," Lupin was saying, deep furrows in his forehead, "We all lose someone sometime, but we have to go on with our lives."

"It's not only that," James said, with a meaningful nod in Lily's direction.

Professor Lurek called roll, and began the class.

"Today, we will be learning the Chocosquishi Charm. It's a rather pointless charm, but it was on the curriculum, so I'm going to teach you. Mr. Potter, please come to the front of the class."

James slowly rose from his seat, and trudged to the front of the class, his head drooping.

"What's the incantation, sir?"

"Oh, you won't need that. I'll be using it on you, you see."

"Huh?"

"Some people in here are having trouble remembering the incantations, so I figured that if you suffer it, you'll remember it."

"Oh. Sure, whatever."

Professor Lurek raised his wand high in the air, and shouted, "CHOCOSQUISHI!"

James was covered in a thick, glutinous chocolaty substance. Lily wasn't sure, but he seemed to be crying.

Lily was enraged. How dare Professor Lurek do that to her beloved… wait, he wasn't her beloved anything… oh, come off it, Evans. You can't deny how you feel about him any longer. It's time to make it known.

"INFERNOPANTS!"

Professor Lurek was stunned to look down and see flames rising from his trousers. Before he could act, however, James had cried, "CHOCOSQUISHI!"

The flames were put out by the sticky chocolate mess. Professor Lurek waved his wand and cleaned himself off.

"Admirable charms, both of you, though I rather dislike your choice of target. To Headmaster Dumbledore's office, both of you. Now."

He muttered something about attacking a teacher, and Lily and James headed off to the office, James dripping with brown mess.

They sat outside the stone gargoyle and waited, an uncomfortable silence between them.

Finally, James broke it by saying, "That Professor Lurek isn't exactly the most concerned teacher, eh? A great lot of good the "Infernopants" and "Chocosquishi" will do when someone's trying to cast Avada Kedavra on you."

Lily smiled, and said, "Well, you have to feel sorry for him, having to deal with people like us for so many years."

"That was really nice, what you did in there. Listen, I'm really sorry about the way I've acted over the past six years."

"No, I'm sorry. I should never have dueled with you in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"No, I'm sorry. I should never have hexed you in the first place."

"All this time, I thought you were a stupid arrogant jerk, and I was wrong."

"No, actually, you were right. But losing my parents has made me realize-"

"You lost your parents? Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay. It's made me realize that I need to have proper priorities. Quidditch and goofing off should not be at the top of my list."

"You know, it's not exactly a secret that you fancy me."

"Ah, another consequence of my arrogance."

"You may have been arrogant, but you weren't lying. You're smart, funny, talented, and, well, very good-looking. And I just think it shouldn't be a secret that I fancy you back."

James let that sink in for a moment, and then, the traces of hurt in his eyes being replaced by utmost happiness, he pulled up his shirt, and said, "Ah, so these are love scars."

Lily laughed softly, and then, as though her heart was controlling her movements, pulled his head down to hers…

When they broke apart, James said, "I'm so much better than that Prewett guy."

Lily just laughed, and pulled him closer.


End file.
